


Mac And Cheese

by sisaat



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hunk Does Chemistry, The Team Wants Shiro To Have Nice Things, Unscientific Chemistry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 05:57:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7965130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisaat/pseuds/sisaat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He thought at first that he had gotten lost and ended up in a chemistry lab. Standing in the middle, among all of the beakers and vials and... things Lance didn't have names for, Hunk was wearing safety goggles and thick protective gloves and doing something sciency.</p><p>“Hunk, what's happening here?”</p><p>“Mac and cheese.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mac And Cheese

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by that tweet from Josh Keaton about Shiro loving mac and cheese

 

It wasn't finding Hunk in the kitchen that surprised Lance. It was... everything else. He thought at first that he had gotten lost and ended up in a chemistry lab. Standing in the middle, among all of the beakers and vials and... things Lance didn't have names for, Hunk was wearing safety goggles and thick protective gloves and doing something sciency.

“Hunk, what's happening here?”

“Mac and cheese.”

“Oh, I see. No, nevermind, I lied. I don't see. What?”

Hunk sealed a jar of something powdery, labeled it and finally looked up. “We don't exactly have the ingredient, so I'm trying to synthesize it. Build it from scratch from its most basic ingredients.” Hunk lifted the goggles up his forehead and sighed. “It would be a lot easier if I had a sample so I could reverse-engineer it.”

Lance mouthed 'reverse-engineer mac and cheese' to see if it would shape the words into something that made sense. It didn't.

“What.”

“I don't just want something similar, like, I'm not trying to make Space Mac and Cheese. It needs to be _exactly_ like the Garrison's mac and cheese.”

“The Garrison's—Hunk, I know we're all a little homesick, but you _hate_ the Garrison's mac and cheese. I'm sure everyone would be a lot happier if you recreated a Big Mac. That's a nice, familiar comfort food. We've got to all have eaten one at some point. Even Keith.” He paused to actually think about that. “Okay, maybe not Keith, but why mac and cheese? Why _the Garrison's_?”

“Well, see, I was talking with Pidge and we tried to cheer ourselves up with things we _didn't_ miss about Earth, like telemarketers and line-ups, and I mentioned the Garrison's food, and Pidge said she loved the mashed potatoes, and I said those were the blandest I've ever tasted, but she said she liked the texture of them, and—”

“Hunk,” Lance interrupted before his friend could get any farther on his tangent.

“Right, so we both agreed that the Garrison's mac and cheese is gross, I mean it's all gooey and overcooked and, _you know_.”

“Yeah, I know, which is why I'm wondering why you're trying to _recreate it_.”

“See, while we were talking Keith had been sitting in the corner being all broody and silent and sharpening his knife but he stopped ignoring us, or maybe he wasn't ignoring us and that just how he socialize with people, and he said that Shiro _loved_ the Garrison's mac and cheese.”

“ _What?_ ” Lance mentally added 'terrible taste in food' to his mental list of Shiro's faults. The only other item on the list so far was 'is completely wrong about the sound laser guns make'.

“Look, nobody's perfect. Anyway, I may not agree with his tastes, but I figured... you know... he hasn't been home in a really long time and he's been through a lot and...”

“And you're hoping to do something nice for him? Make him a favorite dish?”

“Yeah. Bring back some good memories for once.” Hunk tossed him a spare pair of safety goggles. “Here, put these on if you're staying.”

Lance strapped them on. He was definitely staying. “Can I help with anything?”

“Sure. Put on the oven mitts and bring me that container over there that looks about to boil over.”

Lance slipped on the thick spongy gloves that Coran had called the thermo-something-or-other but that the paladins all called the oven mitts and went to fetch the... white watery thingy. Whatever it was. No part of this looked like macaroni OR cheese so far. “Have you been working on this on your own?”

“Pidge helped me find or make the equipment. Still is, actually. I don't have everything I need yet. Put that down here.” Hunk slipped his goggles back in place and grabbed a thermometer. “Keith... Keith wanted to help. Like, really wanted to help. He was way too invested in this for someone with no relevant skills so he was... intensely hovering. I ended up kicking him out of the kitchen.”

Lance snorted. At least this was something he could totally beat Keith at. “So... What's next?”

~*~*~

Shiro didn't know what Hunk's new pet project was. The yellow paladin wouldn't tell him, but sometimes he let him help. Other times he refused to let him into the kitchen at all. He would claim that he was at an especially delicate stage of the experiment and couldn't be distracted. He was pretty sure Lance had been in there one of those times. But as long as they weren't causing troubles, he'd let Hunk have his secrets.

Whatever it was, everyone was helping out. One time Shiro walked in to find Keith observing a flask so closely that his safety goggles were almost pressed against it. He abandoned his observation the moment he spotted him and dragged him to the training room. Another time, Pidge was installing what looked weirdly like a pasta machine. Lance was here more often than anyone else and even Coran and Allura could sometime be found helping out in the kitchen-turned-lab. Shiro was curious, but willing to wait.

He got his answer one day when they were sitting down for dinner. There was an excitement in everyone else, a sense of anticipation. Allura and Coran looked mostly curious but expectant. The other paladins exchanged hushed whispers. Shiro wasn't sure if he was imagining the looks being thrown his way. He had a feeling he was the only one who had been left in the dark about what was coming. Finally Hunk joined them with their dinner and placed a bowl of something very familiar in front of him. A slow grin stretched Shiro's lips.

He wasn't surprised to find that what Hunk had been doing in the kitchen was synthesizing Earth food, but he had expected something like pizza, or ice cream, or triple chocolate cake. Not mac and cheese. He wasn't complaining though. Not complaining at all. Not only was it one of his favorite dish, but this one had that same gooey consistency that he loved and that everyone else kept telling him was gross. He dug in with enthusiasm.

He didn't realize it on the first bite. It had been too long. But somewhere in the middle of his third bite, it hit him. He recognized the taste. It was exactly like the Garrison's. The wave of nostalgia was overwhelming and he froze with the spork still in his mouth. The others were all looking at him but he couldn't see the expression on their face. Everything was a little blurry even with his eyes wide open. He pulled the spork out of his mouth, chewed, swallowed and blinked rapidly. Something wet ran down his cheeks. Oh, so that was his vision was blurry.

“Uh.”

He ducked his head in an embarrassed attempt to hide that he was crying over a bowl of mac and cheese. That wasn't really appropriate for the Head of Voltron. He was supposed to lead these kids and this was a little pathetic.

“So, do you like it?” Hunk asked anxiously. “Are those good tears or bad tears?”

So much for hiding them.

“Love it.” He didn't trust his voice to say anything more, so he shoved another sporkful of cheesy goodness in his mouth. The others took it as their cue to start eating. He hadn't realized before now that they hadn't already. They had been waiting for his reaction.

“Yep, sure tastes like the Garrison's,” Pidge said in a carefully neutral tone.

“This has a very interesting taste,” Allura said. “We don't have anything like this on Altea.”

“It has a nice texture,” Coran added. “I like it.”

“Ringing endorsement right there,” Lance mumbled under his breath. He made a good show of enthusiasm when he shoved some food in his mouth. His face turned into a complex mix of disgusted and homesick. His eyes were a bit misty and his lower lip was trembling.

Hunk was pushing noodles around in his bowl in between large bites. Keith was eating normally, but Shiro knew he hadn't been fond of the stuff back at the Garrison. He let out a little laugh and wiped his cheek with the heel of his hand.

“You guys don't even like this. Why did you even make it?”

“You like it,” Keith said like that explained everything.

“We just thought you could use a taste of home, you know?” Hunk added

Shiro blinked a few more tears and didn't bother to hide them.

“Thank you.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I kind of want to go back to writing regularly, so you might see more Voltron fics from me.


End file.
